Passion or Flatulence?

There are so many ideas swirling around in my head. All in Technicolor.

Blog posts, canvases, clients, dreams, home school ideas, what’s for dinner, I need a massage, better water the flowers.

I have to keep a notebook. An idea book of sorts. It’s where dreams begin to take place. Seeds are planted. I often look back over my notebook when I’m waiting for the kids to finish up a practice or lesson. It gives me instant energy.

My notebook is my go to when my fuel is running low. When I need a spark to get me started.

However, most often, life feels like a wild-fire and I am about to be consumed. How do you tame the fire that burns within you without tamping out the flames all together? How do you moderate passion? Give it boundaries? Tell it what to do instead of it consuming you?

There’s only one problem. I believe we are born with passion. With a fire in our belly. For something. The problem is it gets all twisted up and feels more like gas or flatulence and we take Gas X and call it a day.

But, what would really happen in our lives, in the world, if we took a moment to listen to this fire, this passion in our bosom. What is it telling you?

Instead of numbing out and being addicted to a substance or a person, take a moment or two and listen. Let that ache, that hurt linger for a while before you try to make it go away. Allow the emotions to rise to the surface. Ask yourself, “for what purpose am I here? What do I get to do today that no one else can do?”

This suffering, this enduring…it is truly where you are gifted. And it is hard to tame…maybe it feels impossible to tame. So what do we do? We give it boundaries. We write things down in a notebook. We talk with a trusted friend or life coach. We run 5 miles. We paint, sing, dance. But please don’t numb out and put out the flame that burns within you. Don’t isolate and smother the flame by dousing it with drugs, food, a person, or a copycat version of your passion.

We need your fire. Your passion. Your silent enduring and suffering needs a voice. And that voice may start as a whisper, but give it a voice today.